What does πειθαρχέω (peitharchéō) mean in the Bible?
πειθαρχέω (peitharchéō): Obey someone in authority; specifically submission to rulers, officials, or God's command.
Greek · G3980
πειθαρχέω
To obey
Reading a lexicon entry
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πειθαρχέωG3980
Pronunciationpeitharchéō
What does πειθαρχέω (peitharchéō) mean in the Bible?
πειθαρχέω (peitharchéō): Obey someone in authority; specifically submission to rulers, officials, or God's command.
Full entry for πειθαρχέω (G3980) · Open the biblical lexicon
Questions this entry answers
How does the BSB render G3980?
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include followed my advice (1), obey (1), to be obedient (1), We must obey (1).
Where does πειθαρχέω (peitharchéō) appear in Scripture?
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Acts 5:29. Its strongest book concentrations include Acts (3), Titus (1).
Source Word Evidence
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders Itfollowed my advice1×Acts 27:21
obey1×Acts 5:32
to be obedient1×Titus 3:1
We must obey1×Acts 5:29
Show sample aligned rows
Acts 5:29ΠειθαρχεῖνtoWe must obeyVerb - Present Infinitive ActiveActs 5:32πειθαρχοῦσινtoobeyVerb - Present Participle Active - Dative Masculine PluralActs 27:21πειθαρχήσαντάςtofollowed my adviceVerb - Aorist Participle Active - Accusative Masculine PluralTitus 3:1πειθαρχεῖνtoto be obedientVerb - Present Infinitive Active
Usage map
A compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
First aligned rowActs 5:29
Aligned rows4
Books represented2
Acts3Titus1
Source forms
πειθαρχεῖν1xpeitharcheinTitus 3:1
Πειθαρχεῖν1xPeitharcheinActs 5:29
πειθαρχήσαντάς1xpeitharchēsantasActs 27:21
πειθαρχοῦσιν1xpeitharchousinActs 5:32
Parsing patterns
Verb - Present Infinitive Active2xActs 5:29, Titus 3:1
Verb - Aorist Participle Active - Accusative Masculine Plural1xActs 27:21
Verb - Present Participle Active - Dative Masculine Plural1xActs 5:32
Evidence Summary
Greek word. Obey someone in authority; specifically submission to rulers, officials, or God's command.
Strong'sG3980
Lexical occurrences4 versesGreek text appearances4 timesWord forms2 forms4 referencesVerse guides0 guides
Study linkActs 5:27-42Source Gloss
to obey
Extended definitionSource: STEPBible TBESG + Abbott-Smith
Obey someone in authority; specifically submission to rulers, officials, or God's command.
(πείθομαι, ἀρχή) [in LXX: Dan LXX 7:27 (שְׁמַע), Sir.33:28, I Est.8:94 * ;] to obey one in authority, be obedient: Tit.3:1; with dative, Act.27:21; θεῷ, Act.5:29, 32.
Greek Text Appearances
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
4 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
Acts 5:29Verb Present Active Infinitive
Πειθαρχεῖνpeiqarcein
I obey one in authority
Read verseActs 5:32Verb Present Active Participle Dative Plural Masculine
πειθαρχοῦσινpeiqarcousin
I obey one in authority
Read verseActs 27:21Verb Aorist Active Participle Accusative Plural Masculine
πειθαρχήσαντάςpeiqarchsantav
I obey one in authority
Read verseTitus 3:1Verb Present Active Infinitive
πειθαρχεῖν,peiqarcein
I obey one in authority
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
Grammatical Forms
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Form groups2Aligned forms4TensesPresent, AoristVoicesActive
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Tenses
Voices
Infinitiveverbal noun — the action in abstract2×
Present ActiveActs 5:29 · Titus 3:12×
Participleverbal adjective — the action as a modifying quality2×
Present ActiveActs 5:321×
Aorist ActiveActs 27:211×
Discourse Aspect
How this verb appears across 4 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect
Tense
present3aorist1
Voice
active4
Mood
infinitive2participle2
NT Occurrences
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected Scripture Witness
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
New Testament Witnesses
To obey one in authority.
Showing 1 selected witness from 4 lexical occurrence verses.
Word Origins
πειθαρχέω is built from these roots:
Why This Word Matters
The apostles assert that divine authority supersedes human command.Acts 5:27-42